Ashmont celebrated its 34th annual Heritage Days event this past Saturday with a full lineup of activities, starting with a pancake breakfast served by the fire department, ball games, a parade celebrating the County of St. Paul’s 50th Anniversary, a bench show, kids’ games and more.
Fire trucks, horses, wagons and clowns wound their way down main street Ashmont during the parade, with float riders throwing candy to the eager children lining the streets.
Jack Dickson, board member with the Ashmont Ag Society, estimated that close to 200 people may have attended events through the day.
“It’s part of trying to keep your community alive,” he says of the event. “The hall is very busy – we have a lot of activities, funerals, marriages (and so on). And so of course, we have to generate a few dollars to keep everything going. Our revenue stream is of course dependant on volunteers.”
The event raises money for the Ag Society and Agriplex through its food sales, but he notes that it’s harder for volunteers that are getting older to organize this event and others, such as Ashmont’s quad rally or Buck of the Year event. Younger volunteers are needed to keep these events going, he notes.
And of course, children are among the ones who enjoy the Heritage Days, he notes, adding, “They get a big kick out of it.” Ball games, face painting and a clown handing out balloons puts a smile on the young ones’ faces.
Kids also got involved in this year’s bench show, putting in art pieces, along with other offerings of quilts, preserves, garden products, baking and handicrafts. “I was quite pleased,” said Dickson of the offerings. “I thought they did a great job.”
Every year, Melanie Sloan says she and her family enter a Sloan Ranches float, to “help support the community, and just to get involved.”
Ashmont is a small community, she says, adding this makes it really important for families to stay involved in events such as Heritage Days to keep the community spirit high.
As Sloan moves off the road to make way for another family member making his way to Ashmont Agriplex, her sister, Jessica Sloan, jokes, “Plus you come to events like this, and half of it is your family.”
